Yep, me and my friend Dan kept asking people if they would sell us a Vader. One booth told us "Yes, for $60." That was just one booth though that told us that. Most of the other responses were "No, this one is for my nephew, this is for my niece, this is for me, this is for my friend."

You know, reading all the horror stories about the Star Wars Line-O-Rama 2005, I'm feeling like complete and total crap about asking Tydirium to pick a Vader up for me. While I appreciate him doing so, I feel tremendously guilty for him having to stand in line for so long just to grab me a figure.

I'm completely in the dark about this, but how much did it cost for most people to go to the C3 Line Dance this year, counting just the passes and hotel rooms and travel expenses? I would not be terribly surprised to find out that a lot of people didn't get to do a whole lot of anything because they had to stand in line the majority of the time.

I'm really glad that I stayed home. If I was there, I probably would have just walked out and come home after the first day anyway, or at the very least just hang out at Hooters getting drunk waiting on everyone else to get back.

I blew off the store altogether. If I could have walked right in, bought a Vader, and walked out within 15 minutes, I would have done so just so I could say I had the exclusive. But no way was I going to spend that much time in line.

The thing that really got my goat was that I wanted other items like a t-shirt, but the line was mixed so I would have had to wait behind all the scalpers hoarding Vaders.

You were only allowed four Vaders per person (four punches on the badge), but people used their kids' badges and sent in ringers because some folks were walking around with half-dozens or full cases of the things. And you just know that 50% of these guys are going direct to eBay with the suckers.

And yes, most toy exhibitors had handmade signs saying they would buy Vaders. I was surprised that they were so brazen about it, and that the C3 staff wasn't going around ripping the signs down.

I heard that on Saturday they split Vader into a separate line so I was tempted to go over there, but they capped the line way early again, and besides I had lots of other events I wanted to see.

I just hope some of the souvenirs end up on StarWarsShop.com.

P.S.: And as for the lines in general ... I skipped everything that had a wait of more than a half hour, with the exceptions of a panel for the post-NJO novel series and a couple of author signings.

True, I missed out on highlights like the opening ceremony, but I just couldn't stomach shooting half a day sitting in one spot, no matter how cool the end result. My reasons for going to C3 were: 30% to meet fans from online, 30% to meet EU creators and get their autographs, 30% to buy collectibles of the non-exclusive non-expensive variety, and only 10% everything else. Most of the things I wanted to see didn't have significant lines anyway.

Man, it really sounds like this was a terrible experience overall. 5-9 hours in line for it? Ridiculous. When I first heard about this figure, I was really bummed I would be missing out since I wasn't able to go to C3, but now it doesn't sound like I missed much. I feel bad for those of you who had to spend so much of your weekend waiting in line for it though, you would think there could have been a better system for this.

Thinking about the different exclusives this year (C3 Vader, Lava Vader, Holo Yoda, EB Set, Target Clone, etc.), things are really messed up, and I hope this isn't where the line is headed in the future. Pretty much all of these figures are just rehashes that are recast or repainted in some way, and NONE of them are selling anywhere close to retail. Although some are pretty neat, don't get me wrong, when you start thinking about it...it really is crappy. $12-$13 for a figure that would normally be $5 (or less), even if it is exclusive, is more than high enough.

I was happy for the fact that I really was not missing out on a new figure. It's just yet another Vader with lines recorded by Jones. However, if you attend the event and get to it early and suffer through all the lines, buying the damn tickets, flying, etc you should get your $15 exclusive figure from the event. LOL! I mean come on.

I can hear it from Lucasfilm and Hasbro now though "The C3 Vader was such a hit with the fans that they even waited up to 10 hours to buy it!!! All the fans went home happy and everything was wonderful in the hap, hap, happy land of Star Wars fandom!!!" Birdies chirp and happy music plays.